Fall 2021

More content from Fall 2021

Smart thermostat

Battery-free Touchscreen

Horizon, the home automation brand’s new smart touchscreen thermostat, ditches the batteries of typical smart thermostats in favor of a simple, two-wire install into any thermostat...
Oct. 20, 2021
Ruvati workstation sink

Workstation Sink

By combining two of its most popular styles, Ruvati has created a new apron-front version of its dual-tier workstation sink. Exposed apron detailing creates a modern farmhouse...
Oct. 20, 2021
California faucet with hand sprayer

California Faucets

The manufacturer has added a new Squeeze Handle Sprayer to its kitchen faucets. Modeled on hand sprayers found in restaurant kitchens, users simply squeeze a lever to unleash ...
Oct. 20, 2021
beautiful custom home indoor-outdoor connection

Guest Column: Blurred Lines

We've all looked through a window at the beautiful views surrounding a home and still somehow felt a disconnect. In custom building especially, we find clients are always looking...
Oct. 12, 2021
Minneapolis custom home

Design/Build: High Design Hopes

These clients wanted a lot for their dream home—literally and figuratively. The couple had been looking for a specific type of lot with a south-facing, flat backyard abutting ...
Oct. 1, 2021
Rooftop living in a Potrero Hill, Calif., home designed by Sidell Pakravan Architects

Case Study: Opening Up a Former Apartment Building

After having kids, it’s not unusual for city dwellers to yearn for the suburbs and more outdoor space. Such was the case with a couple who were clients of Berkeley, Calif.–based...
Oct. 1, 2021
brightleaf homes have found success in using social media

Searching for Social Media’s Secret Sauce

Rather than analytics about reach, engagement, shares, or likes, it was a half-dozen client comments on social media following a week of record-breaking subzero temperatures ...
Sept. 26, 2021
spa bath from nomi builders and also from plum builders

Design Spotlight: Spa Baths

 Alfonso and Mary GiaquintoOwners, Plum BuildersIn the spa bathrooms of our firm’s Modern Barn designs, we maximize natural light, square footage, and spatial volume...
Sept. 26, 2021

Q + A: The Luxury of Time

Mark Batson, owner of Tongue & Groove Design + Build, in Wilmington, N.C., grew up on a fishing boat, and those ties to coastal North Carolina continue to inform his work...
Sept. 17, 2021
Exterior of custom prefab home in Santa Monica, California

Out-of-the-Box Thinking From the Factory

“Pick things you know that are important to do. Do them and make sure your solutions work. Fix if needed, then move on to the next problem and repeat. Move slowly and deliberately...
Sept. 16, 2021
Shake shacks was built by hybrid architecture in seattle and featured on Custom Builder

Design Details: Above the Fray

Access to fresh air and daylight in an urban environment can be particularly challenging. Building up is a simple answer. Hybrid, a firm with four distinct but interconnected ...
Sept. 14, 2021
Colorado custom home with custom painted window on fiber cement exterior

Design/Build: Perfecting the Design, Controlling the Build

Creating a completely custom home is a luxury requiring passion, time, money, and a lot of communication. Residential architects and custom home builders often say that part of...
Sept. 13, 2021